


take care of you for me

by boobear_meets_hazza



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Fluff, Friendship, Love, M/M, spoiler warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:48:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26271397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boobear_meets_hazza/pseuds/boobear_meets_hazza
Summary: Ash Lynx wakes up in the library with his friend, Shorter Wong. Is he dead? Is he dreaming?or a quick multi-parter alternate universe set at the end of banana fish
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	1. on the brink

**Author's Note:**

  * For [uziiiry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/uziiiry/gifts).



"Hey Ash, wake up."

He feels a cool breeze along with the soft whisper. Papers are pulled from beneath him when he lifts his head. His right forearm is numb. Is he in the library?

Wait, what was he doing before this again?

His vision was blurry, but he wouldn't have missed the violet head too bright for mornings sitting beside him. Shorter? It can't be. Then again, he could have sworn that there isn’t anyone with as bright a color for hair as his best friend's. Is this the afterlife? Surely, he couldn’t have ended up in heaven nor does this look like hell... Right?

He breathes in and out a few as his sight slowly clears up. There's no mistaking it now: Shorter Wong is here with him, with papers in his hands. But Ash can’t keep his eyes off of his friend. “Shorter!” He exclaims, making an attempt to grab him into a hug, but the sharp pang in his abdomen stops him from doing so.

He bends into himself, his eyes tearing up from the overwhelming pain and his friend’s appearance before him. Happy, he is happy nevertheless. He feels Shorter engulf him into an embrace and his chest caves in once more. “Shh, we’re in the library,” he whispers, pertaining to Ash’s calling of his name. He earns a breathy laugh from the boy in his arms.

“Am I dead?” Ash asks when he adjusts to put his head on his friend’s shoulder. He glances at his hands, painted in red and dripping with his own blood.

Shorter shakes his head with a chuckle. “That stab wound is nothing compared to all the other bullets you got, you know that, right? Didn’t hit any vital organs. You’re gonna be alright.”

They fall into a comfortable silence until Ash finds himself tearing up again. “I’m sorry,” he says in between sobs.

Shorter ruffles his hair. “No, I am sorry. It was my fault, don’t you remember? Yut Lung had me in ropes; I didn’t want to betray all of you. I just had no choice.” He exhales like he’s been holding his breath way too long.

Ash pulls away from their embrace. He plants his elbows on the table, combs his hair with his fingers.

“Besides, you set me free, Ash. I will forever be grateful.” Shorter rests his hand on Ash, before Ash couldn’t feel him anymore. The blonde looks to his left, but his friend has disappeared, Eiji’s letter on the table. He reaches for it again, like all of his burdens lift every time he sees it. He hears Shorter in his head, “say ‘hi’ to Eiji for me, will you?”

He beams a smile as soon as he hears the name of his friend... his Eiji. He grips the papers like his life depends on it, puts his head back down, closes his eyes. He feels light now, like how the sun seems to shine more gently with Eiji’s smile. His soul will always be with him, he had written for him. Always with him.

Oh he loves him so, without wanting anything in return.

It’s enough for him.

He’s enough.


	2. a free man

Max is on the way to the library.

He noticed how sad Eiji had looked when everyone met them at the airport... well everyone, except Ash. Eiji tried to hide his disappointment as he figured that it was Ash' own way of saying goodbye. But Max being Max, having been lucky to rediscover the love he had once lost, he didn't want Ash to lose his. He knew there was no love like Ash and Eiji's, and he didn't want Ash to let their differences destroy them. Max had asked Sing where he is and now he’s preparing to give him the lecture of his lifetime.

He is his “dad” after all.

But when he arrives at the library, there is an ambulance idle outside. A crowd of passersby have bunched up to where the paramedics were rushing to. Max’s heart picks up, afraid at what he may see as he squeezes into the ongoing commotion.

 _Where are you, Ash? Please tell me you’re okay._ He says to himself as he peered in.

He feels a little guilty to have felt relief upon getting a glimpse of black hair on the poor man splayed on the ground. Still, he continues to head inside the building once again.

He spots his blonde boy from afar. He had hoped to see him peacefully reading, except he isn't. What’s weird is that in the library, he is asleep. He walks towards the boy and finds the papers under his head. He taps on his shoulder to wake him up... No response.

Are the papers messed with blood?

He then notices the red pooling underneath his seat and immediately, he sees a story in his head. Had Ash gotten in a fight with the dead man outside? After all, he didn’t check to see who it was as soon as he knew that he wasn’t Ash. He could be anyone. Anyone who knew he was alive.

He had wanted to call for help, to tell the paramedics that there’s another sick man in need of their aid, but sending him to the hospital would be sending him back behind bars, to reignite the cases against him, a supposed dead man. And he wouldn't want that for Ash.

Ash is a free man.

"Hang on, son," he whispers, muscles taut as he brings him back to safety.


	3. thank you

Uncertainty will be the death of me.

Forty-two hours have passed since I’ve first set foot on Japan after a long time, thirty-six hours since I’ve heard of Ash. I haven’t slept since.

Max answered Ibe-san’s call only once since we’d arrived, but Ash hasn’t answered mine even once. I initially assumed it was just Ash being Ash, still believing that it was for the better that we no longer talk. But when Ibe-san’s look changed during their call, my heart sank.

”Ash and Lao got in a fight. Ash was stabbed and Max found him unconscious in the library.” I had barely understood the words spilling from his mouth when he continued, “he lost a lot of blood.”

Those words kept spiraling in my mind ever since.

He lost a lot of blood.

I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. Not until I get to hear from them again. Not until I know that he’s okay.

Is this the fate that I wanted to protect you from? It can’t be—it’s too soon. I don’t know how I’d have helped you if I were there, but this shouldn’t have happened.

I didn’t leave you forever, just temporarily. I’m by your side, remember? You still have to come follow us to Japan, live a long life here with us. Change your fate.

You’re not the leopard from the story.

I’m still not saying sayonara to you, Ash.

You have to get better. You experienced worse, didn’t you?

After another dreadful two bites of breakfast, Ibe-san left immediately. I don’t remember to where. My mind is still in a haze. All I know right now is how unfair the world is, to throw one person every hardship they could get. Even when he could get a decent turn-around. I should have stayed, maybe until we got you the same flight as ours. Until I know you were truly protected.

I picked up my camera, scrolling through my shots of you. Oh, how beautiful you are. It’s crazy to think that someone so strong and proud is so broken in the inside, too. I want to be the one to give you what you didn’t have.

“Please get better, Ash—”

“Eiji.”

My heart did a flip. Am I hearing things? I looked behind.

Ash stood, torso mummified. Ibe-san was carrying his luggage after him. Wait, what?

“Aren’t you going to welcome me to your home? You wanted me to come, didn’t you?” The boy said as if he weren’t injured, a smug look plastered on his face.

I never lost my patience, but right then and there, my blood began to boil. I couldn’t stop myself when my feet carried me to him and my right fist delivered a blow to his cheek. From the looks of it, I hurt my hand more than it fazed him.

He cupped his jaw, chuckling. “Didn’t you just say you wanted me to get better?”

Anger turned into to tears I didn’t think I still had in me. I embraced him. He winced, but I only loosened a little. “Why didn’t you let me know? I was worried sick—”

He wrapped his arms around me as well. My face against his chest, taking in his woody, musky scent. “I know and I’m sorry. When I woke up, it was like a breath of fresh air. The leopard no longer wanted to continue up the mountain.”

“Ash—”

“You’re the best friend I could ever ask for, you know? Thank you, Eiji.”

**Author's Note:**

> wrote this as a birthday gift. definitely loved them and i hope ash truly made a change of fate! :c my apologies if everything was short, i literally just stitched up a story for us to believe in a happy ending. it’s technically finished, but i could add more explanation in another chapter? hmm


End file.
